Glasgow's Games

Picture the scene: it’s the third week of June 2014 and the World Cup is picking up pace. Football fans are thrown into a nightly frenzy trying to combine daily life with watching as many matches as possible. Those of us less than enamoured with the beautiful game are sick of hearing about it, and after a small flurry of interest in the shape of the office sweepstake (Ecuador, anyone?), we’re now stuck with many more days of inane commentary and tedious crowd noise.

Yet while this presents a very minor inconvenience to me, it shouldn’t be forgotten that the real story is taking place on the streets of Brazil. As the World Cup plays out on televisions across the globe, it’s the Brazilian people who are living with the tournament day to day, and who will continue to do so once the camera crews leave. There’s no denying a major event of this kind brings benefits to its host country but there will always be problems.

The huge sums spent on the stadiums helped fuel massive street protests last year by Brazilians fed up with poor public services and corrupt politicians. They said the money would have been better spent on hospitals, schools and public transport.

Closer to home, Scotland is gearing up for its own time in the world’s spotlight. While Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games cannot compare with the sheer scale of the World Cup, there’s no getting away from the fact all major sporting events bring woe and joy in equal parts.

For Glasgow’s communities, there have been major benefits from the city winning its bid to host the Games. The regeneration of the East End of the city has undoubtedly happened faster as a result and at the end of May, First Minister Alex Salmond announced that communities in Rutherglen and Dalmarnock are to benefit from a further £4.48m funding boost.

Projects funded in this round of investment are based near Games venues and the Athletes’ Village, and include a £4m investment in safe and attractive pedestrian and cycle routes, as well as schemes to improve the mental and physical wellbeing of people in the area. The Scottish Government provided the funding to Clyde Gateway urban regeneration company to support both the physical regeneration of the area and help develop local community organisations.

New pedestrian routes will connect Glasgow’s SMART bridge with new commercial development plots at Shawfield’s National Business District, and South Dalmarnock with public transport at the upgraded Dalmarnock railway station. It is hoped these pathways will also enhance and improve the main pedestrian and vehicle routes serving the Commonwealth Games.

The First Minister said: “The impact of the Commonwealth Games will reach across Scotland but the epicentre is here in the Clyde Gateway area. This is why additional funding for community regeneration initiatives in this area is vital. The new pedestrian areas will not only let visitors to the Commonwealth Games move easily between venues, they will also provide a lasting legacy in the area, allowing people to get to the new business development areas and the upgraded Dalmarnock railway station.

“Community involvement is essential to the success of regeneration initiatives and the funding going to both the Aspire project and Gateway to Health will provide additional mental and physical health support in the area. This Government is absolutely clear about the contribution that regeneration makes to growing our economy and improving the life chances of Scotland’s people. All these projects are central to the regeneration of the area and will contribute to the legacy of the Commonwealth Games.”

Neil MacDonald, chairman of Clyde Gateway, said it is thanks to the support provided by partners and funders that Clyde Gateway has been able to make such impressive progress in recent years.

He added: “The additional funding from the Scottish Government will make a huge difference as it allows us to respond to local wishes and needs and deliver the sort of programmes and activities which will provide a sustainable legacy around the 2014 Games.”

A recently published study revealed four out of five residents of Glasgow’s East End think the Commonwealth Games will have a positive impact in their area. Over a thousand people from Bridgeton, Calton, Camlachie, Dalmarnock, Gallowgate and Parkhead were asked their views in summer 2012 on the impact of significant investment in improved infrastructure, sports facilities and housing associated with the Games.

This is the first part of a five-year community study to measure the success of the Scottish Government’s Legacy 2014 programme. The survey shows 81 per cent think the 2014 Commonwealth Games will have a positive impact in their local area; 76 per cent support, or strongly support, Glasgow hosting the Games; while 44 per cent thought their neighbourhood had improved in the last three years; and 37 per cent agreed they have influence in decisions made about their local area.

Meanwhile, as the Games get closer, the realisation of the inconvenience and restrictions many residents will suffer is starting to sink in. At a heated public meeting at the end of last month, many Glaswegians were angry at the parking issues and road closures which will affect their daily lives.

Speaking to Holyrood, Archie Graham, depute leader of Glasgow City Council and executive member for the Commonwealth Games, said the council is continuing a dialogue with local people all the time.

He said: “You can’t organise something on this scale without there being a level of inconvenience for folk. That inconvenience is particularly severe for people who live very near to the sports stadia. We are working hard to ensure people can go about their daily business, even though they will be, without a doubt, inconvenienced at Games time.”

He continued: “One of the great things about these Games is that all the venues which are owned by the council, which will be used during Games times, were all opened at least a year before the Games. This proves the point that these facilities haven’t been built for the Games, they’ve been built for the people of Glasgow. We’re lending them to the Commonwealth Games Federation next month for a few weeks and we then take them back and run them again on behalf of the people of the city.

“What that’s done is really emphasised the point that there has to be a sense of ownership of the Games from the people of the city. What we’re doing here is emphasising the power of sport to change people’s lives.

“Nelson Mandela recognised the power of sport to change people’s lives. When apartheid was dismantled, he immediately set about making sure that rugby was used to engage with black communities because it was previously a white-only sport. He recognised the power of sport to change people’s lives and so do we. The council invested hundreds of millions of pounds in new sports facilities while we were putting the bid in and it was one of the key reasons why we were awarded the Games.

“There is a sense of achievement for people who participate in sport, their health improves, active lifestyles, the camaraderie there is and so on. It really does have the power to lift people’s lives and that’s the message we’re trying to get across.

“On the back of the Games, we put a bid in for the Youth Olympic Games. While that was unsuccessful, we’re nonetheless going ahead with the regeneration of Sighthill in Glasgow. The key to the East End is that we’ve got a regeneration company, Clyde Gateway. There were plans to regenerate the East End in any case but I think the award of the Games has brought that forward by several years. Things like the construction of the Athletes’ Village, the refurbishment of Dalmarnock train station, the building of the Clyde Gateway road through the middle of the area. We’re even working with partners in the private sector like Celtic Football Club who have landscaped the outside of their ground. A great partnership has developed in the East End to secure regeneration. What we need to do now is to use that model in other parts of the city, which we fully intend to do.

“A third of the world’s population live in the Commonwealth, 1.5 billion people will be watching us on the television. An important point is it is not just a sporting event, even though sport is at the heart of it. We also have the Queen’s Baton Rely and we have the cultural festival which is going to be enormous. Even if people aren’t interested in sport, they’re going to be able to enjoy the Games. We’re describing it as one big party, to which everyone is invited.”